Book Cover Is Done! High Stakes = Demanding Creative Process

The first book cover design had near unanimous feedback that it looked too much like Seth Godin’s Tribes book:

tribes-resonate-cover

Argh. We worked so hard on that cover and the creative process is so time consuming and demanding.

We HAD to go back to the drawing board since I’m a huge Godin fan, plus I didn’t want to hear “Your book looks like Seth’s” through the entire shelf life of the dang thing.

So Diandra, Erik, Ryan, and I holed away in the conference room drawing, cutting, mocking up many ideas. We were stuck on having a silhouette be part of the final solution so it would look like slide:ology. It’s really tough to have a human form that looks activated and engaged without looking like they are a whacked out concert-goer.

resonate-working-photo

resonate-working-photo1

resonate-working-photo3

We created many mock-ups and ideas that hit the cutting room floor.

resonate-working-photo4

Book_Cover_word_people

Cover_crinklePeople

Embroidered

Below are the final three solutions:

This first option fits well with slide:ology as a family. Inspired by the crinkled paper form above, we wanted to make it look like a person was transforming through the static. This one got a ton of votes. Some passionate people felt it was the only possible choice since it had people in it. A handful of people thought it was either creepy and sci-fi, or spiritual. Our dogged attempt to include a silhouette on the cover actually ended up being a limiting factor. It is good to break away from that because there are only so many things a silhouette can convey. If we’d gone with a silhouette on this second cover, we’d HAVE to have a silhouette on the next book, too. And it was a struggle to find one that was meaningful.

Option 1

More of the business-types and engineering purists liked Option 2. It’s simple and clean and most accurately represents the physical concept of resonance.

Option 2

And last but not least… I collected feedback from Facebook, and the Twitterverse, and this is our winning option! Option 3 got the most votes and was clearly the favorite, with 200% more votes than the other two combined!

Option 3 (and winner!)

Thank YOU for your help in deciding the cover!

http://www.viewfromw6th.com Linda N.

l can’t wait for this book. Slideology was a life changer for me . . and my clients who are getting better more effective presentations
http://www.hulaforthesoul.com Yvonne Ohumukini Urness

Love it Nancy! Hard to imagine the work that had to go into deciding on just the cover. Mahalo for giving so much of yourself to us. ~Yvonne
http://adamsdzn.com Cherissa Adams

I like option 1 best
http://presentability.com/ Denis Francois Gravel

Wow! Beautiful cover. I prefer option 1 because of the presence of human being, but option 3 with it’s organic forms is an excellent choice. I can’t wait to read it. I hope it is a good as slide:ology
http://www.phatblog.de Christian Kraemer

I feel like I shouldn’t complain about the design as I couldn’t make it any better, but somehow I think you guys could do better … !
In the end of the day we will all buy it anyway!!
http://www.stevecherches.com Steve Cherches

Awesome! It’s great to get a little glimpse into the creative process and to see some of the different paths you traveled. It had to be difficult to scrap an idea that you put so much work and effort into. Too often we see the final product and don’t recognize how much time, energy and emotion went into creating it. Can’t wait to see the book…!

By the way, you mentioned the next book already… Will book # 3 be on Creativity…? :-)
http://www.vespertineinc.com Rachel

I would definitely go with #3
http://www.vespertineinc.com Rachel

Oh wait, you already chose #3 ha. I should read the whole post before speaking.

I’m glad you went with it. This last options has good legs.
Laura

Love them all, but LOVE #3 best!
Ryan Hyde

I liked the red one at the top with the 4 people in it. There is something I like about the red cover more than the blue. Also maybe if the blue was a solid color and not look like a pair of faded jeans it would be better.

But I really don’t think #2 or #3 are the right story for this book.
dal

3 was my favorite.
Curtis

I deeply appreciate the fact that you went the extra 100 miles on this one to create a unique cover. I think your final color choice is perfect for the content. While my etherial side much prefers option #1, I do think Option #3 is best for a broader audience. Congratulations on the excellent work! Your path is a huge inspiration to me.
Maxine

I agree with Steve:
“It’s great to get a little glimpse into the creative process”
It was wonderful watching how this has evolved :)
Thanks for sharing and having us, the audience, help you decide!
looking forward to opening it now
Paul Bunyar

I look forward to purchasing this book.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, Nancy. I used to hate working in PowerPoint. And I am still not a fan of the application. But I have drastically changed my opinion of presentations.

Thank you for the way you inspire us all not only as designers of presentations, but designers of communication.
http://www.thesmarterhomeoffice.com Linda

Please make you subtitle bigger. Think of what it going to look like in postage stamp size on Amazon.
jmeyer

Option 3 is (imho) a good choice. I particularly like that you use a different color and decided against silhouettes but still apply a background with a texture similar to the slide:ology cover. This way the new book is sufficiently distinct from “slide:ology” without loosing the visual connection to its predecessor.

However, I would rethink the way you write the subtitle. At the moment it is hard to read when each word is on a separate line and unimportant words like “that” get emphasized too much. Why not have the subtitle on two lines?

Present visual stories
that transform audiences

instead of

Present
visual
stories
that
transform
audiences
http://www.trunoni.com Michael Fox

Thank you for sharing your design process.

To quote a very wise man that lived long ago, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

I like option #1, it has people. Option #3 looks like Lynda Weinman’s (lynda.com) early book cover style.
http://www.AngelJOrtiz.com Angel J. Ortiz

Loved your first book and can’t wait to purchse the new one.
Let us know when we can pre-order.
Thanks “Nancy and the Crew”
Matthias Daues

Hello there. I am a huge fan of yours, directed your way by Garr Reynolds. I am looking forward to reading and using your book and I would prefer to see cover one of your final drafts, it catches the “transform audiences” part of the title and visualizes the process of engaging someone who starts listening in mental absence. I like that.

Cover two reminds me too much of a physics textbook and cover three doesn’t resonate at all with me.

Best regards and thanks for your hard work and your great ideas!
http://www.grahamgosling.com Graham Gosling

I’d agree with jmeyer, the subtitle does not read well and his suggestion is good.

Otherwise I’m sure my Amazon account will be hit again (presuming that it’ll be available over here in Europe).
Rich

Hi Nancy,
I really enjoyed your first book and cannot wait for the next one. My only suggestion is Option 3 but in the same colour as your first book, a consistant look for a series.
http://www.engine-east.com Michael Durwin

I would have tried to go for a beautiful infographic that outlined the contents of the book. BTW, it may have looked like Godin’s book but I think your version of the crowd cover is more successful.
Jude Rathburn

I didn’t get to participate in the vote, but like all three covers. I agree that the subtitle should have larger text, but I like the approach of one word on each line. When is the book due to be published??? I am looking forward to coming to Duarte Designs in May for your workshop. Keep up the great creative work!
http://www.uwsp.edu/ATHLETICS/mbb/05-06/schedule.htm Schedule

Best you should change the page subject title Book Cover Is Done! High Stakes = Demanding Creative Process | Duarte Blog to more generic for your blog post you write. I enjoyed the the writing however.